1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to portable data carriers, in particular to the chip cards or tokens. Specifically, the invention relates to the storage and delivery configuration of such chip cards and tokens.
2. Description of Related Art
Chip cards, also known as smart cards, generally comprise a thin card body with embedded integrated circuits (i.e., at least one semiconductor chip), and has dimensions and characteristics that meet the requirements of ISO/IEC standards 7810 and 7816. Chip cards may be used for identification, data authentication and storage, and application processing.
Known chip card designs may have a chip card capable of being inserted into a chip card slot or a USB hub. The chip card may include a token (e.g., a subscriber identity module, or “SIM” card) that has a semiconductor chip with an integrated circuit located at an end portion of a token holder. In addition, a slot surrounds the token holder, and the token holder may be formed in one piece with the rest of the chip card from a flexible plastics material. Further, the chip card may have a hinge that fixes the token holder to a position in a chip card plane, and allows the token holder to be reversibly bent or folded out of the chip card plane and bent or folded back into the chip card plane again.
In certain situations, however, users may need a chip card that allows the token to be completely removed from the chip card and used as a separate token for additional flexibility.